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The player's character has been newly embraced by a Sire who did not seek the local Prince's permission; both Sire and childe are sentenced to be executed, but following a protest by Anarch "leader" Nines Rodriguez, Prince LaCroix spares the player's life as a calculated move to preserve a state of non-aggression between the two groups. In return, the player is expected to serve the Prince faithfully, and is set a task to prove their usefulness and loyalty. A supposed Sabbat attack interrupts the introduction to Kindred lore being given to the player by Smiling Jack, and they must continue on alone.

As the game progresses, it becomes apparent that an ancient artifact known as the Ankaran Sarcophagus is at the center of recent tensions between the Camarilla, Sabbat, Anarchs and Kuei-jin of the West Coast. The player must decide which faction - if any - they can trust, and determine the secrets of the Sarcophagus before it causes all out war amongst the Kindred.

The storyline is non-linear; though most events will be encountered regardless of the character's choices, there are numerous optional quests and five distinct endings. However, while the game does give players great freedom, the overall plot line does not change no matter what you do, and all the core missions still need to be completed. For example, if you decide to side with the anarchs, you will still need to obey Prince Lacroix, as you are told to act like you are still loyal. Similarly, if you try to refuse a mission given to you by the prince, he uses the DominateDiscipline to ensure your obedience.

The nature of the Kindred is also true to the pen and paper game, as are the problems of living in a Camarilla controlled city; the player must not only worry about losing Humanity, but also about breaking the Masquerade, at least in public areas. Wisely, the game only introduces those details which influence the game.

Most of the clans are mentioned, though the player is restricted to choosing from the seven clans of the Camarilla.

LaCroix's physically imposing, seven feet tall and dark skinned Sheriff is given no name, and never speaks. His clan is never stated, though as LaCroix recruited him out of Africa a century ago, and given the Disciplines he wields, he may be of the Nagloper or Akunanse Legacy of Laibon.

A Brujah brawler, possible ex-pirate and notable Anarch from the nights of the Anarch Free State; considered a legend among young vampires and his clan. He optionally acts as a mentor at the beginning of the game.

Another thin-blood living under the Santa Monica pier. He is very nervous and desperate about his condition; the player has the option sell him 'unicorn blood' for a blood transfusion that will make him human again, a 'holy stake' to kill the 'head vampire', and some 'special chewing gum' to 'erode your fangs'.

Throughout a large portion of the game there a serial killer raging across the west coast. He has already committed several murders when the game starts and commits more as the game progresses. The player has the option to track him down and decide how to deal with him.

The famed intellectual Gangrel adventurer, Beckett appears in L.A. on the genuine pretext of investigating the Ankaran Sarcophagus, hoping to examine it firsthand and debunk any "superstitious nonsense" surrounding it. He is referred to by Rosa as "The Lone Wolf".

A vampire of the Nagaraja bloodline staying at an abandoned hospital, where she had recently slain a TV crew. The player is given the option to kill her, leave her alone or to exchange artifacts with her.

Maximilian Strauss is the regent of the Tremerechantry downtown. He is very skeptical of Prince Lacroix, but hesitant to talk about it. He is also easily offended, but nonetheless a rather wise Kindred. He sent the player a note at the beginning of the game, can give him an optional side quest and can also later become involved in another side quest. He is also one of the Primogen.

Brother Kanker is another plague bearer. He lives in the sewers and inflicts the disease upon the homeless. Contrary to Jezebel he seems to believe in the ideology of the Ninth Circle, the plague bearer cult that is spreading the disease.

Isaac is the Toreador baron of Hollywood. He is very taunting towards Lacroix and the 'wooden soldiers of the Camarilla', but nonetheless will be quite polite towards the player. He sends him on two main quests involving a snuff film and can also send him to deal with a Gargoyle.

Owner of the Hollywood club Vesuvius. She asks the player to take care of a Hunter problem in the city, as well as a writer threatening the Masquerade. Doing so can result in her falling for your character.

Isaac's childe Ash is the very hopeless and depressed owner of the Asp Hole in Hollywood and a former movie star. He is under surveillance by hunters. If the player chooses to help him deal with his hunter problem he will be encountered again later in the game.

Andrei is the polite, eloquent and well-mannered Tzimisce leader of the Sabbat in Los Angeles. He is responsible for the creation of the snuff tape and has mastered the disciplines of Thaumaturgy and Vicissitude.

Mitnick is a Nosferatu hacker who was embraced by Gary after he broke into a Nosferatu database. He is very happy about his being a kindred, stating that even his appearance does not bother him since he was not too good-looking to begin with.

A bitter former super model, Imalia lives in the Nosferatu warrens with Mitnick, Gary and several others. She was embraced by Gary because of her vanity and is very jealous of model Tawni Sessions who has taken her place.

Leader of the Nosferatu who lurk in a shared haven under the Hollywood Graveyard. He refers to the player as "Boss", and prefers speaking to his visitors while using Obfuscate, saying "I like the sound of my own voice".

Ming Xiao is the high priestess to the people of Chinatown and the leader of the Kuei-Jin. She is very elegant and well-mannered, but makes no effort to hide her disrespect for the Kindred who, according to her, are inferior.

LaCroix' ghoul nearing his 60s (though he appears to be in his mid 30s) who works for LaCroix, based in Santa Monica. He specializes in acquiring contraband goods such as high-grade explosives or weaponry. If you do not alert Prince LaCroix to Mercurio's mix-up at the beginning of the game he will become another source for very powerful weapons such as combat shotguns, sniper rifles, and grenades.

A college student found dying in the Santa Monica hospital (reading one of the doctor's computers reveals that she has lacerated organs and internal bleeding). The player can choose to save her by making her a Ghoul. Doing so is the only way to get the best in-game armor without paying, but unless freed early enough in the game, she will be killed.

Knox is Bertram Tung's ghoul. He approaches the player at the beginning of the game, saying 'You're a vampire, aren't you!' and is very excited to meet him. He also tells him about ghouls and thus enables the option to ghoul Heather.

Arthur operates Arthur's bail bonds. He can send the player on two side quests. It is also known that he has an advanced case of herpes simplex, and hires local escorts to play "Lockdown in the Women's Prison" with him.

Venus is the owner of the Club Confession downtown. To start it, she had to take a loan from a Russian named Boris and has to pay with intercourse every time she can not pay with money. She was originally intended to be a ghoul.

Wong Ho owns the Red Dragon restaurant in Chinatown. He helps the player in many ways, but before he does, he sends him on a quest to rescue his kidnapped daughter Kiki. The player can become friends with him and warn him of a danger he can find out about later.

The Camarilla - Returned to Los Angeles after 60 years, having been forced out by the Anarchs. Ruled by Prince Lacroix.

The Anarchs - Still not recovered from the invasion of the Kuei-jin in the early 2000s, the Anarch Free State lies in disarray, split into two major factions overseen by Baron Isaac Abrams in Hollywood, and Baron Therese Vorman in Santa Monica.

The Sabbat - Staging a major invasion as part of larger plan to occupy America's West Coast, connecting up with their strongholds in Mexico. The local forces are led by a Tzimisce named Andrei.

The Kuei-jin - The vampires of the Middle Kingdom have decided they cannot ignore the threat of the West any longer, and a few years ago ousted the Anarch Free State in a surprise attack.

Bloodlines is a real-time game with the choice between first and third person perspectives. The player character's ability to overcome obstacles is in many cases a mixture of player and character abilities, with character stats determining the effectiveness of actions, and player abilities determining whether or not the actions succeed. For example, the ability to move silently and avoid being detected is heavily influenced by the character's Dexterity and Stealth ratings; however, if the player does not stay in the shadows while sneaking past enemies, the character can still be detected.

The player character increases in power dramatically during the course of the game through the expenditure of earned experience points on attributes, skills and Disciplines. A multitude of items, weapons, and books can be found or purchased that also make the player character more powerful.

Unlike most computer role-playing games, the experience needed to increase stats and skills is not awarded for killing enemies. Experience points are awarded solely for completing quests, no matter how many creatures the player eliminates in the process; sometimes there a bonus exp being awarded for non-combat approaches. This encourages the player to complete quests in creative ways and significantly increases the game's replay value.

While criticized on release for the number of bugs present in the game, it garnered enough praise from critics and fans alike to spawn a concerted community patching effort. Indeed in its retail release it was actually impossible to finish the game for some people. One Troika Games patch was rush released which allowed players to finish the game but left many other bugs and even things such as typos untouched. However, a succession of fan-made mods and patches have since been released even though Troika have since disbanded; few noticeable bugs are left and many features disabled by the developers have been finished and re-enabled. The "unofficial patch" mods have now reached version 9.0 and allow a choice between restoring cut content or solely bug fixes.

Bloodlines uses a simplified version of the Storyteller System which is nonetheless very similar to the original. Characters possess all nine standard attributes, and a reduced set of twelve abilities, broken into the usual groups of Skills, Talents and Knowledges. These are rated from zero to five dots as normal, though the player starts off with far fewer dots than in the pen and paper game. Attribute and Ability scores are added together to form "feats", which represent the dice pools for various attempted actions; for example, the Melee Combat feat is derived by adding the ratings of the Strength Attribute and Melee Ability. Feats are therefore rated between 1 and 10.

Other traits (like Virtues and Willpower) are largely eliminated, though the character does have a Humanity rating. Blood and Health are measured in similar ways to the traditional Storyteller system, though player characters may have a maximum of 15 blood points rather than 10 (the player's Generation is not explicitly stated, but is assumed to be thirteenth).

Disciplines are simplified as well; characters may only access common vampire powers (like healing and physical augmentation) and their three clan Disciplines; out-of-clan Disciplines are not allowed. Most are modified to make all powers useful during play; Thaumaturgy's powers are based on the Path of Blood, for example, though they are all offensive powers rather than analytical.

Much of the interaction is with mortal kine; as a result, many vampiric disciplines have been toned down to prevent the game from being too easy to complete.

Valve did not want another game to display the new source engine prior to Half-Life 2, so when Bloodlines went gold on October 4, 2004, Troika Games worked on a patch that was integrated into the duplication master prior to shipping on November 16th. Therefore, Version 1.1 was the version that first shipped.

Multiplayer development was halted for some time during development, with the intention of picking it up later, which is what happened. However, the multiplayer game play never really came together and it was dropped a couple of months before shipping. There is a fan-created multiplayer mod, however.

In the house on the beach there is a game paused on the TV that shows one of the large monsters from in the sewers later on in the game along with a vampire who is re-loading an Anaconda.

In the European version, the Sheriff in the opening execution cut-scene keeps his sword suspended above the head of the player's sire rather than bringing it down to behead him/her. This is because the camera usually doesn't cut away quick enough before the sword beheads the sire, and it was thought that an actual decapitation scene would not pass the German ratings board.

The game hints towards the end that Jack's friend who drives the taxi is Caine, the father of all vampires. This is made more credible by the fact the characters speech files are kept in a directory titled "Caine" and that a Malkavian character will recognize the taxi driver as the father of all vampires in the prelude to the final battle, leading to a fair amount of hilarity. Driving a taxi is also consistent with being cursed to wander. Additionally, if the player activates the Auspex discipline, he will discover that the driver's aura is purple, indicating that he is a vampire (or, at the very least, not human). Also, Rosa, the clairvoyant thin-blood, cryptically says "Why is he smiling? Is it- is it the father behind him?", referring to one of the games endings where the taxi driver is standing behind Smiling Jack. It must be noted though that some Vampire: The Masquerade supplements mention a Malkavian claiming to be Caine (and may even believe it) who travels around with Jack.

Sebastian LaCroix, the Camarilla Prince of Los Angeles, is named after Lucien LaCroix, the powerful vampire antagonist of the vampire detective television series Forever Knight.

The Malkavian character addresses both Therese and Jeanette as daughters of Janus, way before she/he knows that they have a split personality. However, this might be according to the Malkavian '6th sense'. Their lunacy allows them to know more than they can even consciously comprehend. For instance, the Malkavian character has a line "...tell this to whoever is playing me!", hinting toward the fact that he/she is unconsciously aware of his/her game character position.

Even though the game wasn't released in Spanish officially, a fan group, Clan Dlan, made its first release of a complete translation, including not only dialogs, but graphics as well. The translation can be found here.

There was supposed to be one more character creation mode in the final version of the game: the histories mode. This mode allows player to give his character a specific history rather than just set various attributes by hand. The choice of history has a large impact on the game, as it basically gives players a bonus effect in certain areas and a negative effect in others. For instance, if players choose "Eldritch Prodigy" (Tremere specific history), he gets a 40% bonus Thaumaturgy duration, but loses one XP point every time he gains three as a penalty. Histories are disabled by default in the final version due to instability issues. They can be re-enabled manually, and have also been re-enabled by the unofficial patch.

When playing Nosferatu, an attempt to converse with a certain Russian gangster results in him shouting 'Baba Yaga!' and going hostile. Baba Yaga is a real term in Slavic (and Russian) mythology, though it refers only to a female being. Baba Yaga is believed to be ugly, as well as any Nosferatu. In the Classic World of Darkness, Baba Yaga is also the name of a mighty Nosferatu in Russia that was destroyed in the 90's.

A number of songs were licensed for the game. The song "Bloodlines" performed by Ministry, was created specifically for the game. The soundtrack was released through Best Buy stores for customers who pre-ordered the game. The tracks are as follows;